Slide fastener device

ABSTRACT

A seam type closure for a slide fastener device having a stringer of filamentary material constructed with a series of head portions interconnected with a series of heel portions by a plurality of leg elements, and having a carrier tape secured to leg elements by stitching threads which pass through a layer of the carrier tape that is disposed to overlie only one of each pair of the leg elements.

O Umted States Patent 11 1 1111 3,789,465 Moertel 5] Feb. 5, 1974 SLIDE FASTENER DEVICE 962,157 7/1964 Great Britain 24/20s.13 c 8,84 12 1 64 G [75] Inventor: George B. Moertel, Conneautvllle, 32 2 3 fiizggfi j 219,474 3/1968 Sweden 24/205.l C [73] Assignee: Textron Inc., Providence, RI.

2 Filed; July 17 19 9 Primary Examiner-Bemard A. Gelak Attorney, Agent, or FirmA. R. Field [21] Appl. No.: 842,529

[52] US. Cl. 24/205.l C, 24/205.l3 C [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. A44b 19/10, A44b 19/34 I [5 Fi of Search24/205 l C, 20513 C 2051 C A seam type closure for a slide fastener device having [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,128,518 4/1964 Steingrubner ..25/205.l6C 3,343,234 9/1967 Chery 24/205.13 C 3,484,906 12/1969 Yoshida 25/205.1 C UX FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,529,317 5/1968 France 24/205.1 C

7 fi l Jil r r l 114 ,W/ 113 4 4/4 a stringer of filamentary material constructed with a series of head portions interconnected with a series of heel portions by a plurality of leg elements, and having a carrier tape secured to leg elements by stitching threads which pass through a layer of the carrier tape that is disposed to overlie only one of each pair of the leg elements.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Patented Feb. 5, 1974 INVENTOR,

George B. Moerrel BY WM *fibt ATTORNEYS SLIDE FASTENER DEVICE DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention is embodied in a slide fastener,

This invention relates to Slide fasteners and, more 5 indicated generally at in FIG. l,includingaslider 12 particularly, to a slide fastener device having a seam type closure.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior art devices have conventionally utilized a fila- 10 for a majority of applications where the flexibility of the seam type closure is a necessity for its use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is summarized in a slide fastener device including a stringer having a plurality of head elements and a plurality of heel elements integrally connected by a plurality oflegs defining an upper and lower leg for each head element, the plurality of heel members defining a pair of heel members for each pair of legs with one of the heel members interconnecting adjacent upper legs and with the other interconnecting lower legs, the upper legs being curved toward the lower legs to present a top surface on each upper leg at an angle, a carrier tape having an inner layer disposed on such top surface and a fold connecting it with an upper layer, and a stitching thread means passing through the inner layer and about said lower legs whereby the inner layer is drawn against the top surface of the upper legs.

An object of the present invention is to provide the filamentary stringer of a slide fastener device with notches to receive the stitching threads.

Another object of the present invention is to curve the upper leg of a filamentary stringer having a pair of spaced legs.

This invention has another object in that the flexibility of a filamentary type stringer and its carrier tape is sufficient for widespread utilization.

It is another objectof this invention to recess the stitching threads which secure a carrier tape to a stringer in a slide fastener device.

A further object of this invention is to attach a filamentary stringer of the slide fastener device to a carrier tape utilizing only two layers of tape disposed at an angular relation to each other.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a partial elevation of a slide fastener device embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial elevation view of an integrally formed filament for a slide fastener;

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken substantially across the lower half of FIG. 1 with tape ends removed; and

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of FIG. 4.

that is manually movable to open and close interengageable devices mounted on carrier tapes, the front portions of which are indicated at 14 and 114. The right hand tape portion is indicated 14; for the sake of brevity, only the right hand structures will be described in detail and similar reference numerals with 100 added will be utilized to indicate the left hand structures of identical detail.

A stringer 16 made of any type of filamentary material, such as a suitable plastic, is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 as including a plurality of interengaging head elements l8,-each of which is joined by upper and lower legs 20 and 30 to form a generally U-shaped configuration with the upper leg 20 having a shorter dimension in length than the lower leg 30 as measured from their common head element 18. Along its top surface, each upper leg 20 has a triangular cutout or notch including a sloping wall 22 leading to a transverse wall 24 which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the upper leg 20. The wall 24 is located in that area where the upper leg 20 is joined by an interconnecting or heel member 28; each pair of adjacent upper legs 20 are joined by an upper heel member 28 which is generally U-shaped. Along its bottom surface, each lower leg 30 has a rectangular cutout or notch including a flat lengthwide wall 32 joined at opposite ends to a pair of widthwise walls 34 and 36 which are perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the lower leg 30. The wall 34 is located in that area where the lower leg 30 is joined by an interconnecting or heel member 38; each pair of adjacent lower legs 30 are joined by a lower heel member 38 which is generally U-shaped. As is illustrated in FIG. 2, the upper heel members 28 and the lower heel members 38 are displaced from each other in staggered relationship so as to define a stringer chain of the ladder type.

. FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the condition of the stringer chain 16 before it is secured to a carrier tape. In such condition, the upper and lower legs 20 and 30 are angularly spaced from each other so that the upper heel members 28 are substantially spaced from the lower heel members 38 in a vertical plane (FIG. 3) as well as being staggered therefrom in spaced horizontal planes (FIG. 2). Before fastening the carrier tape, the stringer chain 16 is formed as shown in FIG. 4; i.e., the legs 20 and 30 are compressed toward each other until the upper heel members 28 contact the lower heel members 38 at their adjacent root portions. Such deformation results in the lower legs 30 being straight or horizontal as viewed in FIG. 4 and in the upper legs 20 being slightly curved. Thus, the top surface of the upper leg 20, which was substantially horizontal in FIG. 3, is now disposed at a small angle to the horizontal; this angular relationship is increased with respect to the sloping wall 22.

The front portion 14 of the carrier tape defines an outer layer which is integrally connected to a rear portion or inner layer 13 by means of a reverse curve or rod fold 15. The inner layer 13 of the tape overlies the upper legs 20 and is attached to the stringer chain 16 by any suitable means such as stitching threads. The particular stitching threads shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 include spaced upper needle threads 40 and 42 and spaced lower looper threads 44 and 46, respectively. The threads 40 and 44 (as well as 42 and 46) are applied from a continuous thread by a sewing machine to pass through the tape layer 13, about the side surfaces of each pair of upper and lower legs 20 and 30, and under the bottom surface of each lower leg 30. As is shown in FIG. 4, the looper threads 44 and 46 are nested in the rectangular slot formed by the walls 32, 34 and 36.

The rectangular slot 32-34-36 on the bottom surface of each lower leg 30 has three purposes in the seam type closure of the present invention: first, it provides a recess to protect the looper threads; second, in lieu of a braid or related device the slot itself prevents separation of tape and stringer chain; and third, it positions the looper thread configuration closer to the: bending plane of the fastener device thereby allowing greater flexibility than conventional fastener devices.

The triangular slot 22-24 on the top surface of each upper leg 20 has three purposes: first, it provides a nest into which the tape may be drawn by the needle threads during the sewing operation; second, it permits control of the grin to be transferred from the sewing operation to the slotting or notching operation which can be controlled more accurately; and third, it provides a depression to recess the tape and needle threads whereby the thickness of the chain is reduced and whereby abrasion and wear along the critical area of the tape fold are reduced.

The sloping surface of the curved upper leg 20 facilitates the folding of the carrier tape at the fold because of the resulting angular relationship between the inner tape layer 13 and the outer tape layer 14. In conventional devices of this type, the tape layers 13 and 14 are disposed in spaced parallel relation to each other resulting in a tape fold that is bulky and difficult to form. In accordance with the present invention the tape layers 13 and 14 are not parallel to each other but rather are angular to each other; the tape layer 13 lays along the sloping surface of the curved upper leg whereby the fold 15 is easy to make when the upper layer 14 is folded along the layer 13.

During the stitching operation, the upper layer 13 is drawn into the notch in the top surface of the upper leg 20. Stitch threads pass through the upper layer 13 of the tape, past the side edges of the legs 20 and 30 and then in the notch 32-34-36 in the bottom surface of the lower leg 30. Since only one layer of tape is fastened to the stringer 16, the bulkiness of the slide fastener device is substantially reduced while the flexibility is substantially increased.

The above arrangement has a particular advantage that the fold 15 which cooperates with its opposite fold 115 to form the seam closure, is not subject to any irregularities as may be caused by extreme bulkiness. The disposition of the upper heel member 28 adjacent the lower heel member 38 also reduces the overall bulkiness of the device while lending to give a certain springiness to the upper leg 20.

Inasmuch as the present invention is subject to many variations, modifications and changes in detail, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In a slide fastener device, the combination comprising a continuous stringer having a plurality of head elements interconnected to a plurality of heel members by a plurality of legs,

said plurality of legs including an upper leg and a lower leg extending from each head element,

said plurality of heel members including an upper heel member interconnecting a pair of adjacent upper legs and a lower heel member interconnecting a pair of adjacent lower legs,

said upper heel members being depressed toward said lower heel members,

each of said upper legs having a top surface adapted to receive a carrier tape,

slot means in the top surface of each of said upper legs,

said slot means including a sloping wall contiguous said head element and extending therefrom toward said upper heel member and a straight wall perpendicular to said sloping wall adjacent said upper heel member,

a carrier tape having an inner layer disposed on the top surfaces of said upper legs,'an outer layer and a fold between said inner and said outer layers, and stitching thread means passing through said inner layer and about each of said lower legs whereby said inner layer is drawn into said slot means.

2. The invention as recited in claim 1 wherein said inner and outer layers of said tape are angularly disposed to each other.

3. The invention as recited in claim 1 wherein said lower legs have notch means in their bottom surfaces in alignment with said slot means, and wherein said stitching thread means includes plural strand portions disposed in said notch means so as to be free from abrasion and wear.

4. The invention as recited in claim 3 wherein said notch means includes a rectangular cutout in the bottom surface of each lower leg.

5. The invention as recited in claim 1 wherein said upper legs are shorter in length than said lower legs.

6. The invention as recited in claim 5 wherein said lower legs are disposed in a substantially horizontal plane in spaced parallel relation to the outer layer of said carrier tape, and wherein said upper legs are curved toward said lower legs. 

1. In a slide fastener device, the combination comprising a continuous stringer having a plurality of head elements interconnected to a plurality of heel members by a plurality of legs, said plurality of legs including an upper leg and a lower leg extending from each head element, said plurality of heel members including an upper heel member interconnecting a pair of adjacent upper legs and a lower heel member interconnecting a pair of adjacent lower legs, said upper heel members being depressed toward said lower heel members, each of said upper legs having a top surface adapted to receive a carrier tape, slot means in the top surface of each of said upper legs, said slot means including a sloping wall contiguous said head element and extending therefrom toward said upper heel member and a straight wall perpendicular to said sloping wall adjacent said upper heel member, a carrier tape having an inner layer disposed on the top surfaces of said upper legs, an outer layer and a fold between said inner and said outer layers, and stitching thread means passing through said inner layer and about each of said lower legs whereby said inner layer is drawn into said slot means.
 2. The invention as recited in claim 1 wherein said inner and outer layers of said tape are angularly disposed to each other.
 3. The invention as recited in claim 1 wherein said lower legs have notch means in their bottom surfaces in alignment with said slot means, and wherein said stitching thread means includes plural strand portions disposed in said notch means so as to be free from abrasion and wear.
 4. The invention as recited in claim 3 wherein said notch means includes a rectangular cutout in the bottom surface of each lower leg.
 5. The invention as recited in claim 1 wherein said upper legs are shorter in length than said lower legs.
 6. The invention as recited in claim 5 wherein said lower legs are disposed in a substantially horizontal plane in spaced parallel relation to the outer layer of said carrier tape, and wherein said upper legs are curved toward said lower legs. 